Used CD Shopping Trip 2-20 (The Shittiest Trip Ever)

I knew when I moved, I would be leaving behind my treasure troves of used CD stores back in Denver, but never did I imagine it would be this bad. While dropping off a few applications and resumes, I figured I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket and needed to get rid of it, so I would hit up some of the Hastings stores that dot the map around town here in the city of trees. Now, I haven't really looked at the Hastings stores since my dismal outings back in November and December when I first moved back. I figured that a two month break might give them some time to regroup and get some decent used stuff in. Boy was I wrong. It was basically the same bullshit at the first two Hastings I hit up that was there in November. At the shit wasn't even cheap. Rob Base's lackluster sophomore album? It was going for $9.00 bucks....NINE dollars. This was a CD I picked up for a buck fifty in Denver. No way am I paying anything over four bucks for that album. Another store had ten copies or so of Juvenile Committee's "Free Us Colored Kids" that I picked up for a couple bucks in Denver, but they were going for $8.99 at this store. Ten copies of an album that wasn't all that great to begin with and probably less than ten people in this fuckin' town know who the group is, but yet they are selling them for nine bucks apiece. Get real. I suppose I was spoiled by the variety of stores in Denver, but damn.

I'm not really sure what the problem is. I know Boise isn't exactly a hip hop haven, but I've acquired a lot of CD's in this town, both used and new. But this was bad. Hastings used to be a fairly cheap place, a place you could find plenty of quality used albums for $4.99 rather easily. I'm not saying they didn't have anything I wanted on this trip. There were a few things, but nothing that I'm willing to pay seven to nine bucks used for. Most of the things they had that I was willing to purchase were mediocre albums at best. It's not like they had Nine's albums for $8.99, I'd be willing to pay that price. But not for one of the soft Heavy D albums. I guess I'm bitching, but I needed to rant.

I skipped the other two Hastings stores that I was planning on going to and went straight to my old reliable, "The Record Exchange". As I've mentioned in the past, I've been going to this store since I was in the 8th grade. They have a nice selection of hip hop, both in CD's and in wax formats. The used section usually has one or two items that I'm willing to snatch up. My beef with their used CD's used to be they were too expensive. But not anymore. After my disappointing visits to Hastings, I picked up a couple used CD's just so I didn't get skunked in my effort to pick up some used CD's.

MC Serch - Return Of The Product (Def Jam, 1992) $4.99

1. Here It Comes

2. Don't Have To Be

3. Back To The Grill

4. Hard But True

5. Return Of The Product

6. Daze In A Weak

7. Can You Dig It

8. Social Narcotics

9. Hits The Head

10. Scenes From The Mind

11. Here It Comes Again

I've had this damn CD a couple times in the past. The first one I think ended up with road rash after I left the CD and case on top of my car and flew off. The second just "disappeared" as things do after some of the house parties my roommate and I would have in Salt Lake City. Never be friends with fuckin' tweakers. Scum buckets.

As I mentioned on the Pete Nice write up yesterday, I always kind of viewed this album as somewhat of a disappointment. The production was on some weird shit for the day in age it came out, although now it sounds kind of ground breaking. Maybe it was before it's time? Nah, I wouldn't go that far. The album did have some good tracks on it, tracks such as the classic "Back To The Grill" and "Daze In A Weak" were always personal favorites. A funny little trivia tidbit: The production duo of Wolf & Epic produced five of the albums 11. Brent Mazur was known as Epic, he would go on to form that delightful one hit wonder band, Crazy Town, known for the Alternative/Rock/Kind of Rappish dity "Butterfly". Now you know.

New Kingdom - Paradise Don't Come Cheap (Gee Street, 1996) $5.99

1. Mexico Or Bust

2. Horse Latitudes

3. Infested

4. Unicorns Were Horses

5. Kickin' Like Bruce Lee

6. Shining Armor

7. Paradise Don't Come Cheap

8. Co Pilot

9. Big 10 1/2

10. Valhalla Soothsayer

11. Animal

12. Half Asleep

13. Terror Mad Visionary

14. Suspended In Air

15. Journey To The Sun

I'm not going to lie, this was a mistake. I actually picked this up thinking it was their 1993 album "Heavy Load", which despite it's "alternative hip hop" overtones, I kind of liked. I knew they had a second album, but never bothered listening to it or did I really have any reason to even look for it. Fate have it, I now own it.

I threw it in the CD player while writing this and.....eh. I don't remember the MC being this shitty on the first album. Dude basically just screams over the tracks on every song. The beats is alright. It has that alternative hip hop feel as the first one, but even more so. It actually reminded me of the Urban Dance Squad album, "Mental Floss For The Globe". Maybe it's the mood I'm in at this particular moment, if you have an open mind to different kinds of music, you might be able to do something with this album and the ratings it has gotten on both Amazon.com and Rate Your Music have been rather shining. What do I know? I know this isn't really my thing.

So there you have it. Only two albums. It was a pretty shitty day for used CD shopping. I'm not sure if there are just not out there or if I just missed stuff. Hastings need to do a different approach to selling used CD's, if the same shit has been sitting there for two months, then obviously you aren't doing something right. I guess we'll have to wait for my next trip to Salk Lake City in the next month or so and my trip back to the Mile High city this spring before any really good stuff comes in. I told Eric about my shopping trip and he said "there is always Amazon", which is true, but it's just not as fun as finding that long lost CD you've been searching for forever, living and breathing right there in the palm of your hand.